Relief in sight, work on spilt toll plaza in last lap

The Delhi-Gurgaon expressway concessionaire has started setting up split toll plazas with computerized collection system at the Sirhaul plaza.

The firm — Delhi Gurgaon Super Connectivity Limited (DGSCL) — gave a commitment last year to the Punjab and Haryana High Court that it would take initiatives to decongest the toll plaza.

The firm has set up permanent cabins while the work of installing computers and synchronizing the same with the main toll collection mechanism would take another couple of months, a DGSCL spokesperson said.

The project also includes installation of automated vehicle classifiers (AVCs) with sensors in each lane at the split toll plaza. AVCs differentiates the make of the vehicles passing through the toll lanes as each category of vehicles such as passenger car, light motor vehicle (LMV) and heavy motor vehicle (HMV) are charged different toll rates such as R21, R31 and R64 respectively per trip.

Although there are 32 lanes at Sirhaul toll plaza, 13 more lanes will be created during peak traffic hours. Toll collectors with hand-held machines manage these lanes.

The firm is setting up seven toll collection booths on Delhi side while six will come up on the Gurgaon side. “These split plazas will be set up at a distance of about 100 metres from the main toll plaza. There won’t be any barrier so that vehicles can pass through the main toll plaza,” said the spokesperson of the expressway firm. This will reduce the congestion at the main toll plaza.

The DGSCL spokesperson claimed that the data related to toll collection in all toll lanes of split toll plazas was aligned with the main toll collection system three times a day, after every eight-hour shift.

The DGSCL spokesperson said the extreme two lanes at the 32-lane toll plaza become more prone to smooth traffic flow than others as the vehicles passing through these lanes did not halt and split into six-seven lanes. He said the maximum waiting time in all the lanes is three minutes. However, the motorists claimed that the average waiting time at this toll plaza in peak hours was six minutes.